I always like covering these Signing Day ceremonies because they’re the culmination of years of hard work to get to this moment, to get to this specific day. Like Darren tweeted out this morning, whether you’re going Division I or Division III, it’s an honor to take part in collegiate athletics. It’s not something many get the opportunity to do. Anyway, IHA assistant principal/athletic director/swim coach Jason Schlereth did a great job with the presentation for his five athletes Wednesday. Just prior to the start of the ceremony, Schlereth offered his congratulations to the five girls who committed, said they should consider themselves the “best of the best” at Immaculate Heart and wished them good luck in their future endeavors. After sitting down and talking to each one of them, it sure seems like all five — The Fab Five, as I tweeted out earlier — certainly have bright futures ahead. Here’s what I gathered today at IHA…

Here’s IHA’s Kaitlin Cassidy, who is accompanied by former coach Steve Silver and current Blue Eagles coach Brandon Silva. I believe her parents were in North Carolina today.

We’ll start with Kaitlin Cassidy, who will continue her soccer career at Muhlenberg, and has some pretty lofty aspirations after that. She made the trip to the Allentown, PA school last October and immediately fell in love with the campus. Her words: “It was so cute.” She said when she visited that she could immediately see herself spending the next four years there.

Cassidy said the Division III school was the perfect fit for her both athletically as well as academically. She wants to become a pediatric surgeon and likes the fact that there won’t be as much stress from soccer as there would at a Division I school. “I love soccer,” said Cassidy, who also was looking at Scranton and North Carolina. “But for me, academics definitely come first. It’s a big plus to get to be able to do both in college. And the coach there seemed like he’d be willing to work with my schedule to help me achieve what I need to academically.”

She said her some of her favorite highlights at IHA included getting to the state finals this year and coming back to beat Ramapo, 3-1, in the Bergen County semifinals. Cassidy has a good shot at seeing playing time right away at Muhlenberg, which competes in the Centennial Conference and finished 8-9-2 overall last year. All the defenders from last year’s team were seniors, so it seems like they’ll be open competition for playing time next fall.

Here is IHA’s Casey Devaney, who is accompanied by her parents, Michael and Catherine (back row) and cross-country coach John Downey (seated).

On to Casey Devaney, the IHA cross country runner who will be competing next year at Salve Regina, a Division III school located in Newport, RI. She said Salve Regina caught her attention after receiving a personalized letter in the mail showing interest in her as a runner, as opposed to the generic letters that she often received from other schools. Then, she started researching it some more.

“I Googled it… and it looked like the prettiest school ever,” Devaney said. “It’s really the only school I even pursued. I’ve been obsessed with it. After I visited there, everything felt right about it. The size, the location, the coach. There was nothing better for me.”

Like Cassidy, Devaney chose Division III instead of a higher-profile school, and likes the fact all her time and attention won’t be solely on running. She’s interested in art — graphic design to be exact — and will likely pursue that at Salve Regina. She said she’s taken just about every art class available at Immaculate Heart and is ready to take her talents and ambitions to the next level.

“I’ve got the basics down,” she said. “Now I have to put it all together. They have a really good program there, too. I’m going to be busy taking my time with that. Division I would be so busy, but I don’t think it’ll be as stressful at the Division III level.”

Regarding her time at IHA, her favorite memory doesn’t involve any races or big meets, but rather bonding experiences with her teammates. Last summer, she and the Blue Eagles’ other captains devised a list of 17 “goals” they’d like to accomplish — fun stuff like hiking trips and tie-dye parties. They accomplished 16 of the 17. The only miss? A trip to Six Flags… but that could still be in the works.

Next up is Kaitlin Jacob, one of the many talented Blue Eagle swimmers. She’ll be continuing her career at Division I Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. She visited the Jesuit liberal arts school in September and loved it right away.

“When I went there, I knew it was the place for me,” said Jacob, who is currently preparing for a run at another sectional and state title later this month. “I hung out with the team and it just felt like home for me. I didn’t want to go anywhere else.”

While her heart was set on Holy Cross, a member of the Patriot League, she showed interest in several other high-profile schools such as Loyola-Maryland, Providence, Fordham, Villanova and Boston College. At Holy Cross, Jacob is planning to major in psychology and head to law school after that. “It’s something that interests me,” said Jacob, whose favorite show is Criminal Minds. “I can’t wait.”

She’ll miss not only her teammates the most next year, but all her friends she’s made over the years at IHA. “The girls here, they’re all so talented,” Jacob said. “Whether it’s sports or arts or whatever, everyone’s so good at what they do. Some of my friends are dancers, and they’re great. Everyone has a love for something here and that’s what I’ll miss seeing every day.”

Here’s Hailey Vogt, who’ll be swimming at Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland next year, accompanied by her parents, Julia and Donald.

On to Hailey Vogt, who seemed to have the most fan fare at this ceremony, getting the loudest applause when she was introduced. Vogt will be heading to Division I Mount St. Mary’s UNIVERSITY (and don’t even think of mistaking it for Mount St. Mary’s College in front of her) to continue her swimming career.

The story of how Vogt — a club swimmer for the NJ Wave — found MSM is interesting, as the Emmitsburg, MD school sent her a Christmas card in the mail.

“My mom was like, ‘Look how pretty this place is,’ ” Vogt said of the Northeast Conference school. “That’s when I started looking into it more.”

She said she was “torn” between Mount St. Mary’s, St. Michael’s and Fairfield. She was recruited by all three and liked what each school had to offer, especially after visiting them all. But after checking out Mount St. Mary’s, it became a pretty easy decision for Vogt. Just hours after leaving the school during a November trip, Vogt e-mailed the MSM coach — on her way home from the trip, actually – confirming she would, in fact, be attending the school.

Vogt plans to major in political science and minor in psychology. She has aspirations to become an elder care lawyer. “I love law and I love old people,” Vogt said with a laugh. “My great uncle is 100, my grandpa is 97. I love them.”

Like most of the others signing today, Vogt said she’s going to miss her friends and teammates the most. “I’m gonna miss some of the teachers here, too. I’m close with a lot of them,” she said. “Really I’m just gonna miss the community itself here at IHA. It’s really like one big family. I’ll miss everyone.”

Her favorite swimming memory at IHA? With all the county and state titles the Blue Eagles have been a part of, she said there were too many to list. But she did mention this year’s Westfield meet as something she’ll always remember. All season, Vogt has been clocking in with 1:03s in the 100 butterfly. Schlereth kept telling her she’s gotta gun for something in the 1:02 range against Westfield. Her time at Westfield? 1:02.24, to earn a fourth-place finish and get IHA some quality points. “I was thrilled out of my mind about that,” Vogt said.

Here is Grace Landers, who signed with Division I Fairfield Wednesday, accompanied by her parents, Tom and Susan (seated), former coach Steve Silver and current coach Brandon Silva (standing)

And finally, Grace Landers, the Blue Eagles soccer player who will be continuing her career at Division I Fairfield — following in the footsteps of her father, Tom.

“I liked that it’s close to home,” Landers said of the Connecticut school. “I met with the coach and he was great. So nice. And the girls were welcoming. It was the best fit for me.”

Landers was also considering Lehigh, Bucknell and New York University, but ultimately settled on Fairfield. She realizes getting playing time at the Division I school right away will be tough, but she likes that. “I like the competitiveness,” Landers said of Fairfield, which went 11-6-2 overall last year and an impressive 8-1 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). “I love competition.”

She considers winning the Bergen County tournament and state title her sophomore year as her greatest memory at IHA and will miss her teammates the most when she heads to Fairfield.

“We were really a close-knit group,” Landers said. “It’s gonna be sad to leave them and kind of start all over again with another team. We were all so close.”

And here’s the whole gang together. This photo is courtesy of Susan Demkowicz.

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Darren Cooper is from Slidell, La., and is a graduate of Louisiana State University. He covers any North Jersey sport — including soccer, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming and softball — within walking distance of an ice cream parlor.View all of his posts

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